AMD updates Catalyst drivers, Battlefield 3 beta begins today

Hot on the heels of the latest GeForce beta driver release, AMD has issued its own update to the Catalyst driver series optimized specifically for the Battlefield 3 beta. The Catalyst 11.10 preview driver is essentially a hotfix release and includes better Battlefield 3 performance for 5000 and 6000 series users (single GPU and Crossfire), 5x1 Eyefinity support, and improvements to the Vision Engine Control Center (previously known as Catalyst Control Center). Here's the full list of changes:

Improves performance in Battlefield 3 Open Beta release for both non-Anti-Aliasing, and application enabled Anti-Aliasing cases on the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series for single GPU configurations

Improves performance in Battlefield 3 Open Beta release for both non-Anti-Aliasing, and application enabled Anti-Aliasing cases on CrossFire configurations using the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series

Enables support for Eyefinity 5x1 display (portrait and landscape) configurations using the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series

Vision Engine Control Center: User Interface enhancements have been implemented for the CrossfireX, GPU Overdrive, and Information Center pages.

Players will be limited to the "Rush" game mode on the map "Operation Metro," where one team must attack two M-Com stations while a defending team tries to prevent them. Since the beta is multiplayer-only, gamers will have to wait until the full game launch on October 28 to play the single player campaign.